


Patient

by Lobster



Series: A Year of Haymitch and Effie Drabbles [5]
Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, F/M, Ficlet, Hospitalization, Hospitals, Implied/Referenced Torture, POV Male Character, Pre-Epilogue Mockingjay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-17 13:37:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18099560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lobster/pseuds/Lobster
Summary: Fifty-two weeks, fifty-two prompts, fifty-two drabbles; this work is part of a series of Haymitch/Effie drabbles inspired by one-word prompts. This week's prompt: patient.Haymitch and Effie talk after her rescue during Mockingjay.





	Patient

He studied her tiny form, lost and swimming in the sea of blankets in the hospital bed, anchored by wires snaking out of her arms, her nose, attached to saline drips, oxygen tanks, bags of morphling and what he was pretty sure was a blood transfusion. Her head was presently covered with a scarf but he had seen the job the Peacekeepers had done to her hair and scalp, seen the electrical burns on her body when he and Plutarch had rescued her. They’d done the same thing to Effie that they’d done to Jo, soaked her and then shocked her. They’d only done it twice, though. Once the records had been recovered it was discovered she’d suffered a near-fatal heart attack the second time and had been brought to the medics for treatment - just about the time of the rescue operation. That was the last time her wounds had been treated and really the last time any major interrogation had taken place. After that, any sort of interaction with the Peacekeepers had been more for their own sadistic pleasure than for the benefit of extracting information. 

Here, outside of the confines of the cell, in the full light of the hospital room, surrounded by clean blankets and beeping machines, her body carefully washed and dressed in a gown, her injuries seemed even more extensive than they had the afternoon of her discovery. Haymitch had no idea what to say to her; he was just grateful he had found something to drink and the edges of the world were not so sharp anymore. There was no way he would have been able to face seeing Effie like this sober. Frankly, he needed to be rip-roaring drunk, but he had not found a sufficient quantity of alcohol to help him get there. He wasn’t sure a sufficient quantity of alcohol  _ existed _ to handle this situation. 

He had settled for the cheap brandy some new rebel had smuggled in to 13 and carelessly left out where he could easily find it by, well, watching where he’d put it and stealing it. Tough tits to that kid. He needed it more.

He took a generous swig from the bottle, tried to focus his eyes on Effie. Her chest was still rising and falling. Good. Probably one or more of the alarms would be going off if that stopped. Seeing her like this was making him paranoid, though. He scooted his chair next to her bed, held the hand with fewer tubes coming out of it.

He wasn’t expecting any response, so he was surprised when her eyes opened slowly, drowsily. “Haymitch?” she asked, as though she wasn’t sure what she was seeing. She probably wasn’t, with all the morphling, not to mention the psychological effects of the torture.

“Yeah, princess, I’m here. It’s me,” he said, squeezing her hand as tightly as he dared.

Effie coughed and blinked as if trying to orient herself in time and space. “Hospital?” she asked.

“Yeah, you’re in District 13, in the hospital. It’s real. Here, let me get you some ice chips.”

On the nightstand next to her bed was an insulated bucket of ice chips and a small cup with a spoon in it; Haymitch ignored the cup, preferring instead to scoop the chips directly from the bucket. He brought the spoon to her mouth slowly and she obediently opened her mouth and began to suck on the ice.

“I guess you’re not supposed to have actual water because it could upset your stomach or something. They’re rehydrating you with this drip here. Do you have to use the bathroom? I can get a nurse.”

Effie shrugged and shook her head no. Then she said, “This must be real because the ice is cold.”

“Are you having trouble deciding what’s real and what isn’t? The kids are making a sort of game out of it. You can just ask and I’ll tell you.”

“That would be nice,” Effie said tiredly. “I feel like shit but I’m still alive, is that real or not?” she asked.

“It’s real. You look like you came in second in the Games, but you’re definitely still with us,” he replied.

Effie snorted weakly. “What a thing to say. They tortured me for months. Everyone is dead. Is that real?”

“Yes and no,” he answered. “They did torture you for months, but not everybody is dead. Peeta and Katniss are both still alive.”

Effie relaxed visibly at this news. “So the jabberjays were a lie, then,” she said more to herself than Haymitch.

“I don’t know,” he said. “You’d have to tell me who all you heard in the jabberjays for me to tell you for sure.”

Effie paled and he went on hastily, “When you’re ready, of course!” That seemed to placate her and she continued.

“I’m with the rebels now, correct? Does that make me a rebel too? They won’t see it that way, yes or no? They’ll want to interrogate me too, yes or no?”

“Both yes,” Haymitch said with a sigh. “But I’m on your side. And I will do my best to look out for you, OK?”

“Get in bed with me?” Effie asked in a small voice. “I’m afraid to be alone.”

Haymitch was surprised. The Effie he knew showed no fear of anything, even when she was terrified. For her to admit this, she must be feeling incredibly vulnerable. His heart was breaking into a thousand pieces as he climbed into the bed with her, fitting in easily even with all the wires and tubes due to the weight she had lost from her already small frame. He wrapped his arms around her and her breathing slowed immediately. She had gone back to sleep.

“I would do anything for you, princess,” he said. “And that's real.”

**Author's Note:**

> Another one that got away from me! Thanks to Juxtaposie for the beta. <3


End file.
